Hi guys, thanks for the comments.
Ralfo, once you learn how to drift, it definitely does help, in fact it's the aim of the game. It enables the car to turn faster and sharper. To see some decent drifting in action, check out my recorded replay from the controls menu :)
Frtmeeeee - When not drifting, the grip is around 95%, the car has almost no sideways movement at all. The cars also have significant weight - if you release accelerate, the cars roll down hills etc as they should, and lose power uphill.
Obviously the handling is very stylised, as it's an arcade style racer - it's not meant to be realistic. The main inspirations are Ridge Racer and Initial D.
Proj and ozdy, thanks - the 3D engine took a huge amount of work to get this performance ;)
PS - The game is best played in Firefox, the camera is handled better in FF.
Cheers,
RumbleSushi.
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Cheers mate